April 30, 2014

Germany's Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) has
announced that it will challenge government plans to impose the surcharge
according to the renewable energy act (EEG) on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems
which supply electricity directly to their owners in the nation's
Constitutional Court.

The German Federal Cabinet approved changes to the the renewable energy act
including applying a portion of the surcharge on green electricity to solar
power self-consumption systems, on April 8th, 2014. The bill still must go to
the German Parliament (Bundestag) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat).

"Large parts of the industry will continue to be exempt from financing the
Energy Transition, while those who protect the environment with solar power are
asked to pay,” states BSW-Solar CEO Carsten Körnig. “With the constitutional
challenge, we want to establish the cause of justice in the financing of the
Energy Transition again.”

“Solar generation makes an important contribution to the implementation of a
decentralized Energy Transition based on broad citizen participation. Those who
impede this sector with absurd charges endanger the entire Energy
Transition. We must not allow climate protection and citizen engagement to
be punished.”

BSW-Solar has retained a law firm which finds that the planned “tax” on self-consumption
violates at least two components of the Basic Law. The German Federation of
Consumer Associations also (VZBV) plans to join BSW-Solar in this legal
challenge.

Surcharge on self-consumption to begin August 1st

Under the bill approved by the Federal cabinet, self-consumption PV systems
will be charged 50% of the green electricity surcharge beginning on August 1st,
2014. Tenants who purchase electricity from PV systems supplied by their
landlords will pay 100% of the surcharge, which is currently EUR 0.0624 (USD
0.087) per kWh.

PV plants smaller than 10 kW will remain exempt from the charge, however these
represented only 20% of the PV market in 2013. Energy-intensive industries
which produce their own electricity will pay only 15% of the surcharge, even if
they generate electricity from fossil fuels.